A MEMS (MicroElectrical-Mechanical System) microphone comprises a pressure-sensitive membrane or diaphragm disposed in a silicon chip. The MEMS microphone is packaged together with an amplifier. The MEMS microphone and the amplifier may be located on different chips or on the same chip. The MEMS microphone may also include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit making it a digital MEMS microphone.